A retired journalist has recalled crying in the arms of the departed Cilla Black as they watched breaking footage of the JFK assassination in 1963.

Sandy Sharp was a budding local reporter at the Guardian when she found herself backstage in the Granada Cinema, Hoe Street with Cilla Black, who sadly died on Saturday, aged 72.

The reporter, who went on to meet Cilla many times throughout the years paid tribute to the flame haired “national treasure”.

She said: “Everyone always remembers where they were on November 22 when Kennedy was shot, well I was with Cilla Black.

"Cilla was extremely friendly and was exactly how she came across when she was on TV.

"She made everybody feel special and as if you were her best friend, which is a rare quality amongst celebrities.

“We talked about girly stuff and how she had started to dye her hair red, and traded make-up advice. She asked me how I put my false eyelashes on.

"We were just chatting after her show in Walthamstow when someone turned on the TV with the news that Kennedy had been assassinated.

“We started crying and holding each other, we were absolutely distraught.”

Cilla Black rose to fame in the 1960s as an associate of The Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein.

Born Priscilla Maria Veronica White in Liverpool, she became the first woman to have her own prime-time chat show on BBC1.

She had two number ones, the year after Mrs Sharp interviewed her, with Anyone Who Had A Heart and You're My World.

While Black's sudden death is not being treated as suspicious, reports quoting Spanish police say that post-mortem results were "inconclusive".

“I know it sounds a bit corny but we really have lost a national treasure”, Mrs Sharp, who now lives in Sawbridgeworth, said.

“Since I heard the news a part of my heart has died, even though Cilla only touched my life so briefly.